Every inch of his desk was concealed by stacked piles of forms and reports that were waiting to be filled out, signed, and packed in the crisp, official manila folders that the Amestris State Military had for such purposes.

The cursed task of paperwork.

Such a tiresome task was dull to all who had to do it, but if anyone complained about it and slacked off the most, it had to be Colonel Roy Mustang. The one man who found it made sense to waste his time whining about not having time to fulfill his colonel duties. So as the hours passed and more paperwork came in, he sat in his large, comfortable chair, griping about his massive workload.

"Perhaps, Sir, it wouldn't be so great a task if you'd shut up and get to it," advised his subordinate, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, after listening to another fifteen minutes of Roy's whining.

"I joined the military to get into the action, not sit at a desk all day writing until my hand ached," he retorted, leaning back in his chair with drooping eyes.

Her superior's eyes widened in defeat before drooping once more, recovering from his sudden change in attitude. But the blonde sniper caught it with her trained eye, and couldn't help but feel a little smug.

Roy shrugged and propped his feet up on top of the lowest stack of papers, paying no mind to Riza's frown of disapproval. "I suppose I'm just restless then," he said, switching tactics. "It'd probably be good for me to stretch out my legs and do something a bit more worthwhile."

Riza's eyebrow twitched at the creak of the chair as Roy stood. He stretched leisurely and thoroughly as if he held all of time in the palm of his hands and could control it upon command, exactly how he viewed most situations. She glanced up from her own paperwork, a much smaller load than his, and frowned. There he stood, not even flicking his eyes to all of the work on his desk as he made his way over to hers. A disturbingly mischievous grin overtook his features, shining rebellious eyes trained on hers, goading her to say something. But before she spoke her mind (and probably implanted a bullet or two in his smartass) he uttered the most ridiculous thing he could've said in that moment.

"Let's take a break and grab some coffee."

"Coffee, Sir?"

"Yeah. Coffee." He smiled and walked past her, picked up her work from her desk, and stuffed it all into a random drawer before slamming it closed and taking her hand a bit too boldly. "There's either the cheap stuff downstairs or a café off-base with coffee sent by heaven above. Your choice."Riza snatched her hand back and cradled it to her chest protectively. Her shielded look knocked his confidence down a few notches, but the triumph wasn't there this time. The dominant emotion dwelling within her was very familiar, but not in such a situation as this. As of now, this had to be the first time she'd been shocked so bad that she was rendered numb.

Was her superior asking her on a date?It was apparent before that they shared deeper feelings for each other, at least more than was normal for two cohorts. She gave him her undying loyalty without knowing later on that he would use that to his advantage to twist and mangle into something else, something stronger.

She loved him. And he loved her, this she was sure of. But they were never so open about it, not verbally and hardly physically. They didn't exchange sugar-filled confessions or hold each other like lovers on dark and stormy nights; they had their own way of hinting their love. It wasn't obvious: only those with sharp eyes well-adept for capturing subtle gestures and words spoken with double meaning caught them in the act. Their slightly-more-than-platonic relationship was known only by their closest friends, all of whom knew what differences to spot.

So for him to openly ask her on a date to grab coffee – how cliché could he get? – was a great change of pace and it seemed as if it caused her heart to come to a skidding stop. This was so sudden! Would they get caught? What would happen if they did? Would they be fired? What if none of this worked out to begin with?It was just fine when they secretly dated-slash-not-dated each other but kept the same outer façade. It was something she could handle without having to worry or think much. But to jump into something so new? It had to be one of the hardest things she'd done in her life.

She had no relationship experience. She was always focused on the future and military that she couldn't enjoy the present very much. She'd never had a boyfriend; she simply didn't have the time. However, Roy was a womanizing bachelor who'd have girls draping all over him. He knew what it was like to have a significant other. If she did something wrong out of naivety, he could easily dump her and it'd be really awkward and she'd have to…

"Rizaaa~" Roy whined, interrupting her inner mind hyperventilation. "Hurry up! It's stuffy in here!" He slumped over and looked at her exasperated, arms dangling in front of him. Riza only stared, still caught up on her early thoughts. If he was really asking her to take the next step, she would follow him. She promised she always would, even if he was blindly leading her into the deepest pits of Hell. It was a part of her job, her oath, and connection to him.

"The coffee downstairs is too watery for my tastes," she finally responded in as much of a business-like fashion she could muster, but added a hint of a smile in her eyes at the end of her sentence.

Roy caught on quickly. He smiled and stood erect, gently prying her hand from her chest to lead her out of the room. "Nice to know you think so, too. Now follow me and I'll show you what real potential coffee can have."

The underlying meaning couldn't have been more obvious and reassuring.